Spelling bee kids had Spellbound. The crossword crazies had Wordplay. Now, let the video game fanatics have their documentary! The King of Kong is a nostalgic look back at the early days of video games – when a yellow circle that ate dots was considered revolutionary – and the obsession some folks developed in beating the high scores (for most of us, that was on the machine at a local 7/11 – the subjects of this thoroughly amusing doc, it’s the Guinness Book of World Records).

Back in the 80s, Billy Mitchell set the all-time record high score for Donkey Kong (where the now omnipresent ‘Mario’ made his debut). The score remained unchallenged for more than 20 years, until, in 2006 a man named Steve Weibe broke the record. Director Seth Gordon manages to capture the personalities (Mitchell comes across as arrogant and cocksure; Weibe as a lovable loser who finally found victory) perfectly and crafts an addictive, entertaining jaunt down memory lane. Even if a name like QBert means nothing to you, and you don’t get the reference of a bouncing pretzel, you’ll still have a good time watching this story of social underdogs finding their own road to becoming champions. - Wm. Brian Owens